Big Ten Basketball: Each team’s worst performance of the last decade

Maryland

January 24, 2009 (at Duke 85, Maryland 44) (GS: 2)

Since we’re only going ten years back in time, we can’t include Miracle Minute, though we will look closely at another struggle that Maryland had against Duke. As time has passed, it’s weird to think that these two teams don’t play yearly anymore, with Maryland no longer in the ACC. Their transition into the Big Ten has gone decently well, with NCAA Tournament appearances in three of their first four seasons. But we know that every team has those awful games in their past, and we’re going to look briefly at a couple before we launch into the Duke game.

Way in the past, Maryland dropped a game to their regional rival Georgetown 75-48 way back in November 2008. Georgetown wasn’t even great this season and still managed to smash the Terrapins. The other game that jumped out was a 62-42 loss to Alabama back in November 2011, a day in which offense seemed to completely die for Maryland. And again, while these scores may seem bad, there’s a 41-point loss to Duke looming in the distance, so let’s dive into how bad it was.

It was Maryland’s worst loss since 1962 and it really wasn’t pretty. The game was never close, as you’d expect a 41-point game wouldn’t be. Gerald Henderson led a balanced attack with 17 points for a Duke team that shot 42%. Maryland got 19 points from Landon Milbourne but he was the only person in a groove for the Terrapins. While this Maryland team would not only make the NCAA Tournament but win their opening round game, this was a day in which they were totally in a different class than Duke.

There’s no shame in having a poor shooting day and there’s no shame in losing at Duke, but the combination turned into disaster for the Terrapins. Again, this wasn’t their worst performance against the Blue Devils, and it may not be the last poor effort. Anything could happen in the future and this Maryland squad will likely be back in the NCAA Tournament again very soon.